Wilco - The Whole Love

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So far, Wilco have laid down some 20 tracks for the album, which has the working title of Get Well Soon Everybody. Tweedy says the material fits into two categories: experimental-leaning rock and "cinematic-sounding country music…you know, folk music."

I like Wilco, used to love them & then kinda lost track after A Ghost Is Born (was annoyed about the rehab thing b/c I was excited to see them at Coachella that year & alas they couldn't make it). I've listened to the live album once & the next album a couple of times, but not the latest one yet (b/c the reviews were bleh & time is always short/demands more Pink Floyd bootlegs/etc.). I'm tentatively excited about a new one I guess! as one ought to be for a former favorite band.

it's always tough when you're faced with the decision between "new album by whoever" vs. pink floyd bootlegs. even if you pick that new album, in your heart of hearts you're still thinking about that floyd bootleg.

I'm only a moderate Wilco fan--a huge fan of two or three songs--but I love that Tweedy quote. If you're going to take on people who hate your work (and preemptively, at that), you have to go about it with a bit of style and humour or, agreed, you come off as petulant. Lou Reed's Christgau line would be one example of how to do it right, and Tweedy's quote for me is another--the throwaway "meh" is perfect.

this is a pretty blatant misreading of his quote. he's not taking a shot at dudes who download music in their basements, he's taking a shot at people who have prejudged the album before even hearing it.

I wouldn't say you can make any generalizations about that. Some of them, yes; others, especially after they've been around for a while, seem completely removed from whatever's written about them. Anyway, I skimmed the Spin piece, and you guys are making a big deal out of one line. It's not like he started railing against critics or anything.

well, of course there are going to be people downloading any record that comes out and saying negative things about it on the internet. that's every record. but a new Wilco album, more than most other albums, stands a good chance of a top 5 chart debut and a 4 star review from Rolling Stone. successful people whining about what the "haters" will say about something that isn't even out yet is pretty paranoid imo.

The finished album may be one of the group's most adventurous yet. "I do think it's a little bit more obnoxious and irreverent of a pop record than people have heard from us, maybe, ever," he says. "And that's exciting. But I have no doubt that the second this record becomes available there's somebody sitting in a basement at their computer with the word 'meh' already typed up, waiting to post a review."

ok not whining per se, but it's definitely preemptive snark. like, everyone says they're excited about the new album they're working on and that they hope people will love it, of course they know not everyone will but what's even the point of going "oh some loser already decided to pan the record before he's heard it"

this is a pretty blatant misreading of his quote. he's not taking a shot at dudes who download music in their basements, he's taking a shot at people who have prejudged the album before even hearing it.

I was referring to his use of the by now cliched designation of critics as guys in basements.

I merely brought up the #1 business because of aerosmith's "you really honestly think that?", like I was trying to pull something over him by defending some song that nobody else in the world loved. Pretty sure I never resort to a populist argument to defend the work itself, i.e. millions like it = therefore it's good. My point was that millions like it = why do you seem so surprised that I might like it too?

Poor Wilco. That's what you get for making fun of "I Gotta Feeling," Jeff Tweedy--your thread gets hijacked.

(By the way, I love Eazy's lengthy defense of the song, especially "The days of the week make it a hit with the under-six set"--just like the Jackson 5's "ABC." I hope I'm not being reeled in by an ingenious parody...)

I will say, as a parent of two kids (like Jeff Tweedy!) I've found that small children are overwhelmingly drawn to music that is simplistic and repetitive, and that the better they can understand the lyrics, the more they like it. Hence, little kids (in my experience) don't like rap, terribly, or metal or stuff that's hard to follow. But they do like modern country and piffle like BEP, which is the pop equivalent to a t-ball stand. No one strikes out.

Chuck Eddy would do a better job of taking up this argument than I can, but I'd take issue with the idea that "I Gotta Feeling" is simplistic. I understand your basic point, though. (No kids of my own, but I spend six hours a day with 25 of them.)

when I worked with kids I was a lot more sympathetic to songs like this because I could see them enjoying them, and what's more infectious than that. I do recall with pleasure though a discussion of Pink's "Get This Party Started" that involved exploration of the imperative mood & whether the consequent on not getting the party started was the threat of physical violence toward the listener/addressee

last night when i got IGF stuck in my head because of this thread i remembered fergie's "i know we'll have a ball" section and was like oh damn this song totally has more than one hook, it's so well constructed, fuck what those guys were saying

I'm totally sympathetic, per aero's example, to what kids like and why they like it. But as with food, I find the quality of what they like, generally speaking, directly disproportional to how much they like it. For example, the shittier the microwave pizza, the more the kids like it, no doubt due to all the extra fat, salt and stuff, and lack of complexity. Labor for a couple of days on an awesome dough, homemade sauce and fresh seasonings/toppings, and you'll have a barely touched dinner. I've exposed my kids to all manner of music, from "Music for Airports" through Iron Maiden, but I know what's made the biggest impression on my older one is the mix my friend made for her aerobics workout, which she used to play in the car driving my daughter back from gymnastics.

Josh: I hope you can appreciate that the idea that Iron Maiden is more complex than "I Gotta Feeling" is as baffling to someone like me as the appeal of "I Gotta Feeling" is to you. The older I get, the more I realize that arguing taste is a dead end.

Not arguing tastes, as such. Just noting how my own personal tastes are not aligned with that of many six-year olds I've met.

Not saying Iron Maiden or "Music for Airports" are better than BEP in this case. Just that there's too much abstract stuff going on for little brains to grasp. Not complex as a complement, just literally less repetition, more parts. Sometimes to their detriment. Kids can't process that shit. Again, that's not a diss. It just seems to be true from my perspective.

By the way, you guys ever heard "Bananaphone?" It's a jam.

And come on, "I Gotta Feeling," like it or not, is totally microwave pizza. Sometimes microwave pizza hits the spot. Especially if you're little and don't like food of different colors touching one another.

I wonder how anyone can call this soft rock. The guitar playing is more scuzzed and abrasive than the band has been in years, and while the rhythm section is similarly more slick, I don't see how anyone can listen to Kotche/Stirratt and not be impressed.

Saw them in Nashville for work. Very different sets each night, but Art of Almost and One Sunday Morning both nights, both sounding great. And I'm not really a big guitar solo guy but Nels Cline's solo during Impossible Germany was ridiculous. This line-up is so tight now.

Finally bought this today after much dithering - really adore the opening track, predictably, but wish the stuff in the middle, as elegant and well played and composed as it is, was a bit more akin to it. The songwriting of the middl stretch is growing on me, though.

Saw most of the minor league park set last night. I suspect I'm in the minority, but I really wish Nels would just sit a couple of songs out. Or that someone would tell him that it's OK no to constantly noodle-noodle over everything.

It was OK. Ticket window seemed a bit overwhelmed, and traffic was predictably slow getting in, but the vibe was nice even if the band's bro contingent was in beyond full effect. Posters sucked, surprisingly.

I just don't like Nels in this context. Don't like his tone, don't like his solos, don't like "Impossible Germany" ...